Urban Constructs

New Exhibition at Shipton Street Gallery www.shiptonstreetgallery.co.uk

4 - 28 October 2012
Part of Photomonth 2012

This project has been inspired by the work of John Fung. I have always been interested in photographing urban spaces, from cityscape studies to the more intimate representation of a grittier side of the inner city. I like how the personality of each city is reflected in its own architecture and yet, sometimes, images of cityscapes appear so generic that they can be interchangeable. In ‘Urban Constructs’ I wanted to create abstracts to portray the dynamism and sometime alienating nature of some of the most populated cities I visited. Buildings are merged, distorted, shifted as the city becomes more unrecognisable and its landscape is transformed into an alien form in its own right.

The Skills Labs of CanterburyChrist Church University

Skills labs (or Laboratories) are educational facilities usedin medical training to facilitate learning of both basic and advanced clinicalskills in an up-to-date setting, reflecting changes of healthcare delivery. Theygenerally replicate specialist clinical practice areas and are outfitted with functioningequipment and detailed life sized manikins.These provide an ideal environment for re-enacting differentclinical scenarios and for honing practical skills without fear of harming areal person.

Canterbury Christ Church University skills labs includemidwifery, operating theatre, wards and scrub room areas together with anoccupational therapy flat and Radiography Suite.

The adult and young person manikins are life-size and are unsettlinglysimilar to the real thing in both appearance and touch. There is also the “Sim-Baby”,a new-born simulation manikin, which mimics breathing, noticeable chestmovement, a blood pulse, gastric sounds and baby-like vocal sounds.

All in all the skills labs provide an insightful and odd environmentwhere real and pretend merge into a life-size ‘doll-house’ where the cycle of lifeand death is played out day after day by life-less objects.

All photographs taken atthe 'Skills Labs' at the Health Wellbeing and the Family Department of CanterburyChrist Church University in Chatham Medway Campus.

I would like to thank theHead of the Department and the Skills Labs team for their support throughoutthe project.